other than the One described in an unrestricted sense, and if the objection were instead that one ought not to use the word “part” with respect to the attributes of Allah, then indeed this very term was spoken by the leading Companions, the Followers, and the Followers of the Followers, both in their own words and in the reports they conveyed.
Abu al-Qasim al-Tabarani said in his book al-Sunnah (1): “Hafs b. ʿAmr told us; ʿAmr b. ʿUthman al-Kilabi told us; Musa b. Aʿyan told us, from al-Awzaʿi, from Yahya b. Abi Kathir, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbas who said:
‘When Allah wishes to strike fear into His servants, He unveils some of Himself to the earth, and at that it quakes; and when Allah wishes to annihilate a people, He manifests Himself to it, Mighty and Majestic.’”
Among the Prophetic narrations that speak of His, exalted be He, self-disclosure to the mountain is what al-Tirmidhi recorded in his Jamiʿ (2): “ʿAbd Allah b. ʿAbd al-Rahman—that is to say…”
(1) The discussion above concerned Kitab al-Sunnah by al-Tabarani, which proved unobtainable (p. 365, note 1). It is mentioned by Qadi Abu Ya‘la in his Kitab Ibtal at-Ta’wilat li-Akhbar al-Sifat (manuscript al-Lawha, p. 98), and the Shaykh will cite it again in a different wording from reports of Ikrimah and Ibn Abbas (p. 403).
(2) The Jami‘ al-Sahih, i.e. Sunan al-Tirmidhi (vol. 5, p. 265, Kitab at-Tafsir—chapter “And from Surah al-A‘raf”), hadith no. 3074. It is also recorded by Ibn Jarir al-Tabari in his Tafsir on the verse “When his Lord manifested Himself to the mountain, it crumbled” (al-A‘raf 7:143) via al-Muthanna → al-Hajjaj ibn al-Mihnal → Hammad → Thabit → Anas. According to the report, the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—recited the verse, then gestured with his finger and placed his thumb on the upper joint of his little finger, whereupon the mountain was reduced to dust. See also: al-Tabari, Jami‘ al-Bayan ‘an Ta’wil Ay al-Qur’an 9/53; Ibn Kathir, Tafsir 2/244—who notes that al-Hakim recorded it in his al-Mustadrak on the authority of Hammad ibn Salamah, declaring it sahih by Muslim’s criteria despite its absence in Muslim; al-Suyuti, al-Durr al-Manthur 3/169.